BRAND
Making mobile packaging easier on
the planet
Samsung Electronics' Mobile Communications Business designers are working to eliminate all plastic from smartphone packaging by 2025.
Single-use plastic accounts for an immense amount of waste in landfills. As part of Samsung’s Galaxy for the Planet initiative to deliver constant improvement in the sustainability of our mobile products, our design team is working to eliminate all single-use plastics from product packaging by 2025. After a decade of progress, only four percent of Samsung Galaxy smartphone packaging is still made from plastic. That’s a sharp decrease from the 51 percent plastic used in 2017 Galaxy packaging. Here’s how Samsung’s designers are promoting a more sustainable smartphone experience, starting with the box.
Parting ways with single-use plastic
The importance of shopping for products that have a lighter environmental impact is self-evident in the era of climate change, but we know our customers are always looking for more ways to be sustainable. Choosing products and brands that minimize the use of plastic is a convenient and meaningful change all of us can make. Consider the packaging used for the Samsung Galaxy S21,1 Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and
Galaxy Z Flip3 5G as a sneak peek into the future: To reduce today’s four percent of plastic material in packaging all the way to zero in just three years, our design thinkers are exploring how to replace every components of the box with recyclable and compostable materials, such as paper, sugarcane and other novel fibers. The trick is not just to remove the plastic, it’s also to make our packaging recyclable or compostable.
Plastic films are no longer used to protect the Galaxy S9, S10 and S20 earphones (left) and charger plugs (right) in packaging.
A decade of progress
In 2012, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S3, the first device in the series to include recycled packaging materials. A year later, Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 with mobile packaging created using discarded paper. Since then, the Galaxy S5 and upgraded versions have followed suit with increased use of fiber and petroleum-free soy ink. By 2017, Galaxy S7 phones shipped in packaging containing about 51 percent plastic. That’s when the hard work started.
"We abandoned the holder tray and the box-covering sleeve, but kept the bottom box, which includes an all-in-one pulp mold,” Samsung designer Sun-Young Lee recalls. The Galaxy S10 and newer versions’ eco-conscious packaging featuring Forest Stewardship Council-certified sustainably source paper boxes and plastic-free interior components. “This pulp mold, which utilizes pulp slurry containing bamboo fibers and sugarcane bagasse, is better for the environment, and helps minimize waste,” Sun-Young says.
Even the wrapping around accessories, such as the plastic that covered chargers and earphones in earlier models, was removed because the components were redesigned with a matte finish that does not require protective films. The rules of thumb our designers apply when making packaging decisions follow the three R’s, (1) reducing paper use by streamlining the packaging dimensions, (2) replacing plastic with paper and (3) removing unnecessary components to simplify the box and recycling.
Upcycled materials, beautifully designed
Our packaging that’s better for the environment and aesthetically pleasing may look effortless, but the designers say success involves clearing a variety of hurdles. To develop sustainable paper packaging for mass production, the color and materials had to be consistent. The project took years of trial and error as the design team applied color to a recycled pulp material that promised to replace the plastic inside our packaging.
“We wanted to offer a better and premium experience with paper packaging than users would have with plastic. The surface of this material is curved and rough, which means that coloring it will require some retouches,” Hyun-Jee says of the box inset that cradles a phone. “Once it’s formed, the pulp mold may appear reddish or blue, and it can look like it’s stained depending on the recycled materials that were used
to create it".
In the end, the team was able to achieve the soft matte black hue that distinguishes Galaxy in the store and when unpacked at home. “We chose to accentuate the soft texture of the pulp material itself, and devoted a great deal of effort to refining the packaging’s exterior,” Hyun-Jee says.
Designing increasingly plastic-free, recyclable packaging is just one example of how we will overcome challenges on the journey to becoming a sustainable company that delivers products that reduce our customers’ environmental impact. Premium, durable products should arrive in a box that makes its own sustainability statement.
Galaxy's best, packaged for the planet
Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
